Rostam Batmanglij has been a member of Vampire Weekend since 2006. He’s essentially worked as the band’s co-leader alongside Ezra Koenig, and his production has been key to the band’s sound. And today, Batmanglij announced that he’s leaving the band.

In a note posted on Twitter, Batmanglij wrote that he’s “no longer a member of VW,” adding that he and Koenig plan to work together on “future projects + future VW songs.” He also wrote that he wants to focus on his solo career: “my identity as a songwriter + producer, I realized needs to stand on its own.” Here’s the full message:

A couple years ago, Rostam and I sat down at his house & talked abt whether our collaboration was dependent on being members of the same band. We both firmly agreed that nope, it was not. In fact, we agreed that our collaboration was more important.

I’m psyched about the work we’ve already begun for LP4 and I’m psyched to hear anything else Rostam is a part of.
Also very excited to continue playing music with CT and Baio but there will be plenty of time to talk about that later in the year.

For now in the Vampire Weekend universe, it’s all about recording the next album. There will be a lot of familiar faces in the studio but also some fresh, new ones. Working title is “Mitsubishi Macchiato”…for obvious reasons.

Shout-out to the fans who have been waiting for new music – it’s coming. 🙏🏼🙏🏼🙏🏼 Also tomorrow, we gotta talk abt Iowa.